HOW TO GET YOUR PLAN RIGHT
Write for your audience
Not all business plans serve the same purpose, explains Pamela Rae-Welsh from Worsley Creative Services, so make sure yours speaks to the people it is tailor-made for. ‘If your business plan is to convince investors to give you funding, make sure you tailor your language so that it is compelling to them – avoid using lots of technical vocabulary that they may not be familiar with.’
Don’t reinvent the wheel
Angus Imlach, of Sweetshop Media says that it is a good idea to use tools, templates and plans that are already out there, especially if you’re new to writing a business plan.
‘Use resources such as The Prince’s Trust and Bplans.com to fully understand all the parts of a business plan,’ he says. ‘Go online and look at other companies’ models to understand how they work and then experiment with your own ideas and find the best solutions for you.’
Make it a team effort
Jan Cavelle, a business coach currently writing a growth book called Scale For Success, says the best business plan she ever had was collegiate and visible.
‘The best type of plan I ever used was a quarterly one that had the business vision at the top, what each department had to achieve to get there during that period underneath, and smaller team or individual goals listed under that. Those goals weren’t chosen by me, but discussed and agreed with the departments, with a lot of input from them so there was huge buy-in. ‘I had them printed each quarter in poster size and hung in each department. Everyone knew where they were going and why.’